Disclaimer: Doctor Who and TARDIS are trademarks of the BBC. Tell me who doesn't know that by now?
Hello everyone! And welcome to my first ever Doctor Who story posted on the internet! I've been writing Doctor Who stories for years, but have never had to opportunity to post them -in particular- for public viewing. . . not to mention, public review.
I've been a Doctor Who fan for as long as I can remember, and though I haven't been online for quite as long as that, I have written other fan fiction (from Anime shows) that have been extensively and favorably reviewed by readers across the world (thanks to the internet).
But, for my Doctor Who fictions, this is a first. And I'm very happy to have this story read by you! =D There's nothing bad in the story, I've only rated it T to be on the safe side, as there are some thematic elements that might scare some younger folk.
So please do read on, and let me know what you think! Tah!
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DOCTOR WHO
Fohenn Fallacy
Chapter 1: A Gift from the Gods
One moment the Doctor was standing in the wide console room of his TARDIS, and the next, a great black chamber. 'What?' His startled eyes swept 'round the shadow-entrenched room. "Where am I?" He heard movement in the darkness before him and the cloaked figure of a woman stepped forward; she was holding a bejewelled staff. She pulled back her red hood, and eyed the Time Lord with the look of a tigress.
"Who are–?" the Doctor paused as subtle movement sounded all around him. It was then that he realized he was standing at the center of a small group of people cloaked similarly to the woman.
"Is this who the gods have chosen to send me?" queried the woman, raising an amused eyebrow.
"It would appear so." said a male voice, near at hand.
Doctor frowned. "Now hold on just one second! Who are you people? How did I get here?"
The woman started in a slow pace around the Doctor. "I summoned you here, stranger. I have need of you."
The Doctor followed her out of the corner of his eye; he counted six people in the room besides himself. "Oh yes?" he said carefully, "And who, might I ask, are you?" His tone was cautious, as he could tell she was someone of great importance from the way she had taken the lead, strutting around in her red cloak, while the others remained noticeably reticent, shrouded in black.
"I am Valix, Queen of Fohenn." she grinned in her sovereignty, "Soon to be absolute ruler of Fohenn now that the gods have delivered you."
The Doctor felt a sudden tension fill the room. Two figures immediately grabbed him from behind, bending his arms at his back. "Ack!" He struggled as the rest of the group came forward and started binding his hands.
The Queen stood apart, smiling, though there was a measure of curiosity in her arched eyebrow. She came forward, all her servant's back-sweeping except for the two who held the Time Lord.
The Doctor narrowed his eyes sharply. "Why are you doing this?" he growled, "You said you brought me here. Brought me here for what?"
Queen Valix raised her staff, pushing the pommel against the underside of the Doctor's chin. "It isn't anything personal, stranger. But, you're here to die."
The Doctor stiffened, eyes widening slightly. "Why?"
"Well," began the Queen, with a placating sigh, "You could have been anyone, I really didn't care who it was going to be. I simply beseeched the gods for the most suitable sacrifice for me to obtain my destiny. And they sent you." She turned away with a graceful stride.
'Sacrifice!' thought the Doctor in alarm, "I see," he said, grimly, "And by sacrifice I take it you mean an offering to appease some imaginary god?"
The Queen looked back at him with bright, curious eyes. "Forsooth, stranger."
"I assume that includes all the customary bells and whistles? A mighty altar, a dagger of some kind– oh and let's not forget, the sacred ritual."
Valix smiled. "I think I'm beginning to see why the gods chose you." The Doctor frowned severely. "But you neglected to include yourself." said the Queen matter-o-factly, "Indeed, without you all the other elements would be as kindling without a spark. In truth, you are the catalyst of my uprising."
"What?" breathed the Doctor, face creasing slightly.
Queen Valix looked 'round at her servants. "The ceremony to come will not be typical in the least," her eyes moved to the Doctor, "For you are no ordinary oblation."
"Am I not? Oh how nice." sighed the Time Lord.
Valix's smile hardened as she noted the Doctor's sarcasm; she cleared her throat. "Though it will be disguised as any other ceremony that takes place during this season, the aftereffects of your sacrifice will grant me sole ownership of the throne of Fohenn."
The Doctor wasn't sure whether or not he was interested in this recitation; all he wanted to focus on was finding a way to escape the cloak-shrouded group, as soon as possible.
The Queen suddenly snapped up her staff. "Come! It's late. My husband will miss me."
The Doctor grit his teeth, hearts pounding as he was dragged after the Queen. "Can't we talk about this?" he said earnestly, receiving no reply. They hauled the Time Lord up a wide set of steps, and into a long passage.
"How did you bring me here?" he asked quickly, "A hyper form of teleportation? I hardly felt myself move."
"Whether you believe in our gods or not, their powers speak for themselves." answered Queen Valix. She halted the group beside a large door. "Now, quietly," she whispered, "I'm going to return to the palace. Take the stranger to my Lair and keep him there, and keep him silent. I don't want anyone else knowing he's here. Questions might be raised and I don't want word getting back to my husband."
"Yes, Majesty." said the servants.
The Doctor's brow furrowed with discernment. 'Doesn't want her husband to know about me? Does that mean the King wouldn't approve of her plans to do me in? Or, does that mean she's plotting to dethrone him?'
Valix edged the door open, and peeked out; she glanced back at her cloaked servants. "Don't follow immediately." She exited as a queen would be expected to, and the door clicked after her.
The Doctor felt the group sigh inwardly, the tension lifting if only for a moment. Then one of them moved up and opened the door a crack. Doctor cleared his throat and looked at those around him; a few looked back. He smiled warmly. "Hello," he said, "Eh, fancy sending me back?"
"Now, quickly. . !" said the man at the door. Arms came 'round the Doctor from almost every angle and rushed him through the doorway. His jaw tightened as he was hastened through a long open corridor, made of high pillared arches on either side.
"I won't go!" he cried, trying to drag his feet.
"Be silent!" called one of the hooded girls, worriedly glancing about as if she suspected the shadows of having eyes. But no one saw them crossing between the Courtyards, for the hour was far too early. Indeed, the Doctor saw two tiny twin suns barely peeking over the horizon. The sky was pale, and everything on the earth below, shades of colored gray.
Verily, the two Courtyards they were passing were massive; laying just beyond the pillars, the one to the left was square and a great deal smaller than the one on the right, which was wide and circular. The Doctor narrowed his eyes.
He glanced toward the path ahead, where he saw a dark set of doors fast approaching. He wasn't going to let them take him to the Queen's Lair. After all, he was the Doctor, Last of the Time Lords, one of the oldest and rarest things left in the Universe. He certainly wasn't going to let Valix kill him for whatever ghastly purpose required his demise.
'I won't die for anyone's cause but my own.' he determined irefully. And, gathering all strength in his muscles, he suddenly sprang forward –jerking his startled captors with him– and fell. They gasped as he slipped from their grasp, rolling passed their legs with an expert's ease.
Arms still bound at his back, the Doctor sprang up as they reached for him and raced pell-mell into the largest of the two Courtyards. It was a common area, as he had suspected, and his eyes darted left and right as he scanned the expanse for an exit.
"Don't let him escape!"
"Ha!" called the Doctor over his shoulder,"You'll never take me alive!" He barreled towards a wide outlet in the far wall.
"Oh no!" cried the girl, "He's going into the city!" No matter how fast the Queen's servants were, they were no match for a twin-hearted Time Lord with long slender legs.
The Doctor came into the mouth of the tunnel-like outlet and found himself at the top of a high set of steps. Seeing the way open at the bottom, Doctor charged down them three at a time.
"No!" called the youngest of the cloaked men. And at once, all of the Queen's servants came to a sudden stop. They stood along the top step, gasping for breath; they looked at each other concernedly.
"What do we do?" whispered the girl, "We are forbidden to enter the city."
"Surly the Queen will now beat us severely." said the young man, swallowing hard.
The oldest of the group cleared his throat. "We haven't lost him yet. Quickly, to the Guard Posts. We must rectify this before her Majesty learns of our error."
The amassed cloaks fluttered, and were gone.
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The Doctor was a good distance away before he realized he no longer heard the sound of pursuit. This worried him as much as it pleased him. He turned 'round as he came to a stop; he could still see the outlet at the base of the high intimidating palace structure, but he couldn't see any of the dark-cloaked servants. He bent forward slightly.
'What could've happened to them?' he wondered, allowing himself a moment to catch his breath, 'Surly they wouldn't have given up that easily.' He took a few backward steps and looked about. He was amid many light blue stony structures that looked like round homes; there were doors and windows, and many had varying decorative little things set just along their perimeters. By appearance, it could only be a village.
The Doctor blinked curiously. 'Where am I?' He looked towards the sky again. "Twin suns," he muttered, "And a Queen of Fohenn? What planet has two little suns and a kingdom named Fohenn?"
He thought it over for several minutes whilst wandering the village byways in search of something to cut the rope binding his wrists. Eventually he found a broken sword –with a variety of other discarded objects– in a squatty weathered barrel.
He fished it out awkwardly and knelt, plying its edge to the rope. "That's right," he was saying quietly to himself, "This must be the world of Hemlokon, in the Denshian galaxy. A planet whose people are no where near developing space travel," he looked back towards the looming palace, "And I can see why."
He grit his teeth as he put more effort into severing the rope. At once his hands jerked away from each other, and he smiled as he brought the broken blade up before his eyes. "I know why your master threw you away. But oh," he grinned gratefully, "You're all aces in my book."
He stood, replacing the sword in the barrel. He began pulling the remaining rope from his wrists and gazed 'round with a shrewd stare. "Now," he said, heading farther into the maze of sky blue dwellings, "To get back to the TARDIS. . ."
He stopped suddenly, frowning at his own idiocy. "I'm so stupid," he grumbled, "I didn't come here in the TARDIS, so there's no TARDIS to get back to!" He shoved his hands in his pockets and aimed a kick at the ground, sending up a little plum of dust.
'What do I do?' he wondered with agitation, 'How am I going to get away from here?' He looked back toward the palace again. 'I'm three galaxies away from where I was, no thanks to the Queen and her so-called gods.'
The shadow of troubled thoughts came over the Time Lord's features. 'That's right! If Hemlokon doesn't have any space-worthy means of transportation. . ! Does that mean I'm left with the Queen's little group as my only hope of getting back where I belong?' Doctor shook his head, leaning against one of the huts. "If only I could call the TARDIS to me," he mumbled, sighing deep within himself, "If I hadn't lost my Stattenheim Remote Control. . ."
Buried in his own thoughts, it took a moment for the Doctor to realize he heard the distant drumming of many feet. He blinked and raised his head. Were the villagers stirring already?
He stood upright with a jerk. 'But why would they be moving all together?' he wondered anxiously, 'Do they have communal jogs at dawn here in Fohenn? Or—' He looked left and right. The sound was echoing all around him now, and he didn't know from which direction it was coming.
'No, no, no,' he thought, 'Those feet are coming for me. I can feel it. I've gotta run before they find me!' He darted passed an even row of huts, and paused at the connecting junction; he could see no one. And so continued to head away from the ever-diminishing castle, ducking low when he thought it necessary and running flat-out when he thought he'd heard something coming up from behind.
"I've got to get out of this city," he hissed, pausing in one of the early morning shadows. He didn't know where he would head once he was free of Fohenn, but Hemlokon was a big planet, and anywhere was safer than within the reach of that crazy Queen Valix.
The Doctor shook his head with disgust as he thought of the reason she had brought him there. 'Sacrifice indeed!' he thought indignantly. He suddenly heard a throng of hurried voices; he got low to the wall and watched the way ahead. What emerged could only have been a group of palace guards.
"Recognizable on any planet." Doctor whispered wryly.
"I don't know," said one of the guards, sleepily, "They got me out of bed. I don't even know who we're lookin' for!"
"I do." said another, who appeared to be the captain, "A brown-haired man wearing dark blue."
The Doctor looked down at himself. 'Yep, that's me. I knew those cloaked people wouldn't give up so easily. Send the poor ol' palace guard after me did they? I almost feel sorry for them.'
"I'll bet it's some kind of rouse." said a third guard, "I never liked the Queen's servants, always strutting around now that good King Érkhart has commanded us to obey them. I'll bet they're getting back us for always dragging our feet when they give us an order."
"I wouldn't put it passed them." interjected the captain, "Nevertheless, there was a strange urgency in their voices, the like I've never seen. They want this man for whatever reason, or they'll face retribution from the Queen, I'll bet."
'Yeah.' thought the Doctor, backing away. He made sure the way was clear before he sprinted down the lane into the next shadow. He paused there, seeing a mighty wall just ahead; he went towards it, hiding out of sight against the last row of huts. He put his back up against the rounded hut wall and raised his face toward the daunting barrier. He looked in both directions, following the wall as far as he could see. 'Probably goes all the way around the city.' he reasoned.
He lightly fingered his chin as he considered what to do. 'Could find the nearest gate, but it'll probably be guarded.'
"You - there," came a dark voice.
The hair bristled at the back of the Doctor's neck. He spun toward the unsettling voice and saw, not a guard, but someone strikingly unexpected. There standing, was a wild-haired man in a tattered tunic. His eyes were blood-shot, and horribly intense.
The Doctor retreated a step. "Who are you?" he asked quickly. Something about the man was very wrong, the Time Lord's sixth sense was going off like an alarm.
"My queen's will is my own." said the man, in a gravelled voice, "She shelters me here because we two are the last of our people. You are a crucial element in her destiny, therefore, you cannot be allowed to escape."
The Doctor turned to run, yet as he started away, the bedraggled man shouted a string of odious sounding words. The next thing the Time Lord knew, he'd been knocked to the ground, quite hard.
He coughed and opened his eyes. There, 'round his torso, were swimming shadows, gripping his body like a giant severed hand. Doctor's eyes shot wide. 'This is black-craft!' he cried in his mind. Indeed, it was the same craft used by the Carrionites, a power created by the Black Guardian himself.
"You're a Necromancer!" shouted the Doctor, as the man came towards him. Undaunted by this new antagonist, the Time Lord grit his teeth, and recalled the difficult dimension-bending techniques he'd learned on Psyandorr.
At once, a volley of incomprehensible sounds leapt from the Doctor's tongue. The straggle-haired man jumped back in surprise as the summoned shadows suddenly broke, flying off in blackened tatters. The sound of thunder echoed 'round as the Doctor rose to his feet, and faced his adversary.
"You know magic?" asked the man, eyeing the Queen's would-be sacrifice.
"It isn't magic, it's science. And while yours works in words, mine works in sounds. They are equal and opposite, so do you really want to keep going?" The Doctor glared, only to have his body tense as he heard the approach of numerous palace guard, attracted by the dying boom.
The man too, looked concerned by the nearness of the guards, and did nothing as the Doctor darted away. He hissed, a shudder coming into his red-streaked eyes. He quietly retreated to his hut as the guards flooded the surrounding streets.
The man ignored the racing feet that passed his door. And instead, stood rigid at the center of his domicile, where he pressed the palms of his hands together and laced his fingers. Then, as his eyes slid closed, he raised his pointer-fingers and held them to his forehead. Darkly he began to mutter — and the shadows gathered at his feet.
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"There! I see him!" bellowed a young guard.
The Doctor spun at the call, realizing he'd been spotted. 'Oh brilliant!' he thought, and sprinted away. He turned one direction, only to have to turn another as it became increasingly apparent the palace guards were everywhere. He retreated as much as he advanced, and the more he was sighted, the more the cry went up as to his whereabouts.
The Doctor was soon dizzy with the effort, and was now totally exposed. With the shouts of the guards at his back, he rounded a corner, and once again found himself racing down the main avenue.
'This is terrible!' he thought, eyes widening on the immense Fohenn palace, 'I'm being driven back towards the Queen!'
Though he was well ahead of them, the thunder of the guards' feet almost made the Doctor think he was running from a stampede — which is something he had done once in the old American West.
All at once, something strange started to appear in the road ahead. The Doctor had to blink to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but, it was haze. Immediately the Doctor reeled to a halt as a barrier of shadows materialized before him.
"Necromancer again!" growled the Doctor, half expecting to see the man standing somewhere nearby. Though the guards were very near their target, they were also very aware of the strange black wall; they looked on it worriedly, slowing their pace.
Doctor took his eyes from them and faced the shadows. Once again, he pulled a long string of sounds from deep within his throat; with a clap, he threw his hands out at opposite angles and something like lightning exploded across the scene.
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Still in his hut, the Necromancer's eyes snapped open. Gasping sharply, he reeled backward, suddenly falling to the floor as stiff as if he'd been made of stone. Like patient servants, the shadows swarmed around his inert form, waiting. . .
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When the guards looked again, the haze had cleared and the Doctor was a tiny figure in the distance; in fact, he was almost to the palace. "Come," said the captain of the guard, a tad uneasily, "We'd – better get after him."
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Well, Chapter 2 will be along shortly, and the dear ol' Doctor is about to get in the thick of it. So stay tuned reader!
And thanks for reading! :)
Claimer: I DO own planets Hemlokon and Psyandorr, kingdom Fohenn, and all the weird characters in this story! (In case you were wondering. . .)
